The doc's daughter
by Aradia-rising
Summary: The daughter of a white doctor who treats blacks get tourtured at school. Will the aproach of segregation change that? or will it be a California boy?
1. K6 2 2

Hello.

My name is Elizabeth. I am seventeen years old.

I don't know why I'm telling you all of this. You probably have tons of better things to do than sit around listening to me.

What else do you want to know? I'm Elizabeth and I live in Virginia. And I'm seventeen. That's really all there is to tell

Thank you.

Goodbye.

THE END

* * *

Oh! You're still there? 

Oh, well. Now I suppose I'll _have _to tell you about-

All right, I'm sorry. It wasn't really true, what I said. There is more to tell. If you're absolutely positive it won't bore you, I'll tell you the story of how the T.C. Williams Titans beat every other team in their division.

Like I said, my name's Elizabeth. Elizabeth Lynnette Walsh, daughter of the only white doctor that would treat blacks. It made for some interesting sleepovers let me tell you. To have a bunch of milk-pale seven-year-old girls gigglin' together, then suddenly screamin' in fear as the black man daddy was treating walked through our front door as natural as if he was my brother Michael. None of the girls would play with me after that. Called me a nigger-lover. Wadn't a very good nickname, but it stung all the same. When I got into middle school, my desk would strangely come apart, my locker would get trashed, and books, if left unattended, would be ripped to shreds. I never told my father, for fear he would make it worse, so for five years I put up with the torment of everyone in school hatin' me for my dad. One summer afternoon I came home from my job at Lind's five and dime to find my father sitting at the table, his head in his hands. I approached him cautiously.

"Daddy?"

"K6-2-2."

I cocked my head to the side. "What?"

"K6-2-2. You know that new school they're building? It's going to be integrated." he lifted his head to show me the ear-to-ear smile he had on his face.

I grinned back at him. Maybe I would have friends in this new segregated school. Daddy had helped almost every black family in Alexandria, I was sure someone would befriend me.

* * *

I wasn't too far off. The segregation was a good thing, though a mother with a sharp picket sign almost decapitated me on my way in. The funny thing was, it wasn't black girls that accepted me, but white boys. One white boy to be exact, Louie Lastick, a football player that had moved here during the summer. I was sure the reason he was a friend to me was that he didn't know my past. My father's past really, but it followed me more than it did him. Louie moved in next door and when I found out he liked football I told him about the sign ups, and he took off like a shot. 

"What's you're first class?" I asked him, standing in front of the school, surrounded by protesters.

"Uh, English, with Mr. Jenkins. You?"

I turned pink under my freckles. "Algebra II."

"What'chu doin' in my school boy?" Louie spoke, not to me, but to a carmel-colored boy who had just walked up to him. "Man this is messed up."

"Yeah anything serious happens, they shut the school down and our season goes down the drain, this here's real messed up." He sighed "but there are a lot of pretty women here."

I peeked out from behind Louie. "Hi! Am I included in that statement?"

The boy looked slightly shocked that I wasn't glaring at him. "Oh uh, of course. Petey Jones." He said, thrusting his hand out to shake.

I met it firmly. "Elizabeth Walsh, pleasure to meet you." I said with a smile.

"Elizabeth's my next door neighbor, she's the one that told me about football tryouts."

A white boy with blond hair and what I knew would be a wonderful smile came up to us. "Hippie boy?" he murmured, shaking his head.

"Hey Sunshine! Not even a hello?"

I was right, his smile was fantastic. "Hey Petey, Louie. Who's your friend?"

"Elizabeth Walsh" I replied, offering my hand.

I marveled at how warm and dry his hand was, "Ronnie Bass, nice to meet you."

"Likewise," I breathed, momentarily stunned as his cornflower blue eyes met mine. "But, um, please call me Liz." Where did that come from?

"Liz." Ronnie said softly nodding.

Petey coughed. "If y'all are done? We should get inside"

Ronnie and I turned away from each other, blushing.

"Yeah," I said, "Halls are gonna be murder since no one knows where everything is."

"A whole school of freshman." Louie remarked, making me giggle.


	2. Wonderful friendship

Stepping into my Algebra class, I noticed at once the problems we were gonna have. There were six rows of desks, each with about six behind each one. On the right three desks, closest to the doors, there were a few black kids, waiting for class to start. On the left side, near the books, there were the white kids, doin' the same. I decided to sit near the middle of the room, which happened to be next to a pretty black girl. I took a deep breath, it was now or never.

"Hi" I said "I'm Liz Walsh."

The room went silent. There _were _only a handful of people in there, and I _was _talking a little loud, but I had a feeling that even if Pearl Harbor was goin' on everyone would have stopped to listen to me introduce myself to a black girl.

"Christine Babcock." She said shortly.

"Nice to meet you." I ventured.

She whipped her head towards me. "Why are you doin' this?" she hissed. "I got friends, don't need any white girl to be makin' fun of me."

"I'm not making fun of you." I said, almost in a whisper. "You may have friends, but I don't."

The room sat in silence for a second. "Nice to meet you too." She said finally, smiling slightly.

I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding and smiled back at her.

The bell rang and students filed in. They sat in their 'appropriate' seats, where no one sat on the other's side.

Halfway through filling out all the paperwork each teacher assigned us, I tapped Christine on the shoulder. "Hey" I whispered, "My neighbor's on the football team and he's giving me a ride home. Do you want to come watch practice with me?" I knew I was toeing the line but I was desperate for a girlfriend.

Christine thought about it for a moment. "Okay, but how much do you know about football?"

I blushed. "Only that most boys behinds look quite nice in those football pants."

The bell rang and everyone gathered their books and turned in their forms. Christine giggled. "I think this is the beginning of a wonderful friendship." She said.


	3. Daddy's Files

The hallways felt like a tomb, with whites and blacks glaring at each other as they walked past. I met Christine in the parking lot before practice and together we made our way to the football field.

"So, you know any of the players?" I asked.

"Well, ah, Petey Jones is my perpetual pain in the rear, and Julius Cambell is one of my neighbors; Most of the black boys probably go to my church but I don't know 'um. You?"

"My neighbor's Louie Lastick, like I said, and everyone at Hammond knows Gerry Bertier."

Christine nodded and the rest of the way to the field was in small talk.

"Hello, coach Boone? I'm Liz Walsh, and your linebacker promised me a ride home. Would you mind if we sat in on practice? We won't bother anyone, I swear."

Coach Boone glanced between Christine and I with a pleased twinkle in his eyes. "Go on ahead girls, you can sit in the stands."

"Thanks coach." We murmured, and found our seats.

"So, recognize anyone?"

"Let's see, there's Ronnie Bass, I met him this mornin'; and I think I recognize that boy from seventh period history; that boy on the end there looks like one of daddy's files I was snooping through last week."

Christine looked pleasantly scandalized. "You look at people's files? Is that legal?"

I shrugged and grinned. "Maybe not, but it's not like there's anythin' worth talkin' about in there. Nothin' but allergies, heights, weights. Stuff like that. Nothin' good."

"I dunno," Christine tore her eyes from the practice to fix me with a thoughtful look. "Some girls might consider that height and weight thing somethin' good."

I laughed and shook my head. "Not like I'll remember that sorta thing."

We talked a little more about each other; our families, our likes and dislikes. We had more in common than most people would have expected- we both had older brothers, one of our parents was not in the picture, and we knew absolutely nothing about football.

"Oh! Looks like practice is over!" I exclaimed, interrupting myself. "Hey Louie!"

"Lastick, that your girlfriend? She's way too pretty for you."

"Fellas, this is Elizabeth Walsh. She's my next door neighbor, I'm giving her a ride home."

"Nice to meet you." A boy I recognized from daddy's files shook my hand. It was a little dirty, and sweaty, but I didn't mind. Much.

"Julius Cambell, right?" he nodded. "Had chicken Pox when you were eight, allergic to peanuts."

Christine grinned. "Guess you do remember some of your daddy's files." She said.


	4. Couple of lovebirds

After practice Christine and I waited in the parking lot for Louie. The first person we saw leaving the locker room was Ronnie.

"Hey, Louie's gonna be a while. He and Blue are singing in the locker room."

I smiled "That's okay, Daddy isn't expectin' me home for a while."

"Singin'? Good lord, have your ears started to bleed?" Christine looked revolted.

"Hey! They're not that bad." Ronnie protested.

Christine looked unconvinced. "Sunshine, Blue is the only person in my entire congregation that has ever been turned down for a spot on the choir. And that's sayin' somethin'"

I giggled. "I hear Louie in the shower in the morning since his bathroom's by my bedroom. He's not terribly awful."

Ronnie wrapped his arm around me jokingly "See, Liz agrees with me."

"And she's about the only one Sunshine." Petey materialized on the other side of Louie's car, flashing a grin at Christine. "And how's my future wife doin'?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm fine Petey. You still a sophomore? Or has the school decided that arts and crafts actually count as a credit?"

Petey pretended to look wounded. "Girl, you know I have to get good grades so mom and pop let me play. Shoot, I bet I've got better grades than you."

Christine walked slowly around the front of the car. "Oh yeah? You really think so?"

Petey's smirk never wavered. "Yeah, I really think so."

Christine moved closer to him, in the hope of intimidation I guess. Being that she was four inches shorter than him it wasn't very effective. "You wanna make a bet on that darlin'?"

"Sure. If I win, you'll go to homecoming with me."

"And If I win, you won't ask me out ever again, or ask me to dance, or follow me around after dark-"

"That's just out of protecting feelings for you." Petey protested.

"I don't care what you call it; it's infuriating, so stop." Christine held out her hand and sighed. "Do we have a deal?"

Petey studied her face for a moment, then shook her hand. "Deal."

"Do they always act like this?" Ronnie -whose arm was still around my shoulders- murmured in my ear, giving me goosebumps.

I smiled and shrugged, "I dunno, just met them this morinin'"

"Well what do we have here?" Blue and Louie had snuck up on the four of us and were smirking in a way I knew I didn't like.

"I dunno, looks like a couple a lovebirds." Julius and Gerry were close behind and I nearly groaned.

"Do y'all need glasses? Me and Petey were arugin' and Liz and Ronnie were pokin' fun of us." Christine strode to Julius. "And if any of y'all say otherwise I'll take your tongue and wrap it round that telephone pole. Understand?"

Julius was the only one still smilin' "Yes Ma'am. But if you want a ride home, you best be a little nicer to me from now on."

Christine rolled her eyes. "You know I'm just kiddin'. Later y'all."

The rest of us called out goodbyes and left for our respective cars.

"See you tomorrow Liz." Ronnie said softly, and kissed me on the cheek before heading to his car.

"Well, guess maybe Sunshine ain't from California."

"Petey?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."


	5. Oh look, a flying pig

After the first day things started to settle into a nice little routine. Get up, go to school, watch practice with Christine, get a ride home with Louie, do homework, go to bed. On the weekends I worked at Lind's from 10-3 and after that Christine and I would find some of the boys and hang out with them for a while. Sometimes we'd go out to a movie, or they'd scrimmage in the park while Christine and I'd watch. Whatever we did, we always had fun though; I remember thinking that life really couldn't get any better.

At least 'til report cards came out.

"A, A, B, A, B-, A. Beat that Petey."

"With Pleasure. A, A, A, B, A, A-. So I'll be seeing you at the homecoming baby girl." Petey turned on his heel and strolled towards the Titan table, leaving his report card on the table.

Christine was in shock. "There is no way Petey Jones beat me. Liz, where's your calculator?"

I dug it out and added their scores. "4 plus 4 plus 3.8 plus 4 plus 3.2 plus 4. Divided by six is… 3.5. That's yours. 4 plus 4 plus 4 plus 3.8 plus 4 plus 3.2. Divided by six… 3.67. I'm so sorry Christine."

We looked at Petey, whose face was covered in mashed potatoes, apparently on purpose. "Not as sorry as I am. What am I gonna do?" Her head fell into her hands and she groaned.

Ronnie sat down next to her, putting his arm around her shoulders. "Well you made the bet, guess you'll have to go to homecoming with him."

"But I don't even have a dress." Christine admitted through her fingers.

"I don't think Petey would care if you came in a paper sack. He really likes you and he wants to show you that."

"You can wear one of my mamma's old 40's dresses. I'll go too, so then you'll have somebody to talk to." I wasn't planning on going but this was an emergency.

Ronnie looked up suddenly. "You weren't coming?"

I shrugged. "Not 'til now, and I guess it's too late to scrounge up a date."

"Want to go with me?"

My face felt hot. "Um sure. Pick me up at eight?"

Ronnie glanced over at the Titan table. "Actually, the team's going out for dinner first and I said I'd come. So how's six fifteen?"

"That's fine, tell Petey to pick Christine up at my house too. We can get ready together."


	6. Homecoming dates

"Elizabeth Lynnette Walsh, you best sit still, or I'm gonna leave you here and you'll be goin' to this homecomin' with only with half your head done." Christine's mama waved her comb around menacingly. She had come over with Christine to do our hair like our mama's when they were young.

I squeaked in fear and sat up straight. "I'll be good Mrs. Babcock, I promise."

Christine stomped into the kitchen. "I ain't wearin' this, it makes me look like Jackie O."

I sighed. "Christine, You said no to that beautiful black lace dress because it was 'inappropriate' which makes you sound like my daddy by the way. You said I _had_ to wear this dress because it made me look like 'a Grecian goddess' and all the others were in rags. What other choice do you have?"

Christine looked slightly ashamed of herself. "I just wanna look nice." She mumbled, "Even if it is just for Petey."

Mrs. Babcock stopped fixin' my hair and wrapped her arms around Christine. "There's nothin' wrong with that baby. Now, once I'm done with Elizabeth's hair, we can take a look at that black dress and see what we can do."

I looked at their embrace with envy. I wished my mamma was still here, so we could have those moments. But I had daddy, and mostly he was enough.

A half an hour later, my hair was locked into an all-nighter that put my dull brown hair in pin curls next to my ears. I hoped I didn't get too close to a candle; with all the hairspray Mrs. Babcock put on it, I was sure my hair'd catch fire.

We finally convinced Christine to wear the lace dress with sleeves that came to her elbows, and a high neckline. What I was sure that made her uncomfortable was the hem, that came a good two inches above her knees. My dress was much more proper, it covered the knee, and came as high as Christine's did. My favorite part of it was that it tied at the shoulders and left my arms bare. And it was red. Christine's mamma said you always pushed the envelope wearing red.

While her mamma did her hair in finger-waves, I did Christine's makeup, instructin' her to close her eyes as I swept a steady line across the top of her lashes. "If you stab me in the eye with that, you're a dead woman." She warned. I spread the blush along her cheekbones and carefully applied her red lipstick.

"All done baby." Mrs. Babcock said.

"Me too." I added, packing up the mascara.

"Then sit." Christine said forcefully, pushing me into another chair. "And it's your turn." My makeup was the same as hers, being that the only makeup I had was what I used on her and bought earlier that day, and she hadn't thought to bring any of her own.

"You girls want anything to eat?" Daddy hovered near the kitchen counter "I can make you somethin' that won't smear your makeup."

"That's all right Dr. Walsh, we're gonna go to dinner before the dance so we'll be fine."

Daddy stepped into the kitchen and let out a low whistle. "You look just like your mamma on our first date." He had tears in his eyes.


	7. A bouquet of rosebuds

The doorbell rang at six seventeen, by the Anstey & Wilson clock in the living room. Christine got up but Daddy motioned her to sit. "As long as you're getting picked up from here, and dropped off here, you're my daughter too."

'Thanks' I mouthed. Daddy nodded and opened the door. "Yes?" Daddy used his intimidation voice that always scared me when I was little.

"Hello sir. Is uh, Christine here?" Petey sounded pissing-pants nervous and Christine and I giggled.

"Yes she is. You must be Petey." Daddy grudgingly let Petey in but made him slide between him and the doorframe.

"Hi Ch-Christine, yo-you look beautiful. I uh, got you these-for you." He handed her a bouquet of pink roses that her mamma grabbed and put in a vase. Petey was coated with a light sheen of sweat and it took a moment for him to register that anyone else was in the room with them. "Oh! Uh, you look nice too Liz."

"Now before y'all go, I'll be needin' some pictures." Christine's mamma brandished the camera like a gun.

Petey stood though all the embarrassing parent photos with his grin firmly intact. Christine was nervous, annoyed, and she needed to be alone for five minutes otherwise Petey head was comin' off on my front steps.

"Let's go find your bag, I think it's in my room." I said once the last flashbulb went off.

Christine breathed a sigh of relief and readily followed me back to my bedroom. "Lord this is gonna be hard."

I handed her the bag. "I'll be right behind you, we'll be fine."

She snorted. "Easy for you to say, you like Sunshine."

My face felt hot. "No I don't."

"Honey, the only people that don't see that is you, and him."

I frowned. "That obvious?"

Christine pulled my arm back into the hallway. "_He_ doesn't know it, that's what really matters right? He likes you too, I can tell."

My lips curled into a grin. "You think so?"

Christine sighed. "I know so honey."

We turned the corner past the kitchen and I caught my breath. Ronnie was standing there looking _very_ handsome in his tuxedo. His hair was slicked back and he held a bouquet of pink rosebuds.

"You said you liked daisies, but I thought these were more fitting"

I took them from him and smiled up. "They're perfect."


End file.
